INDEPENDENT POLITICIAN MITHAL AL-ALUSI CLAIMS IECI

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 005149

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/28/2015
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PNAT IZ
SUBJECT: INDEPENDENT POLITICIAN MITHAL AL-ALUSI CLAIMS IECI
CORRUPTION

Classified By: Political Counselor Robert Ford for reasons
1.4(b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: Mithal al-Alusi, an Independent Sunni
Arab and founder of the Iraqi Nation Party, claimed
December 27 that the Independent Electoral Commission of
Iraq (IECI) is attempting to alter seat allocation in the
new Council of Representatives by counting ballots the
IECI's own investigate commission deemed fraudulent. Alusi
said two of the IECI commissioners have forced the counting
of these ballots. Alusi stands to lose a seat if the vote
count alters dramatically. End Summary.

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I AM BEING ROBBED OF MY SEAT
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2. (C) Mithal al-Alusi, former De-Ba'athification
Committee Chairman and founder of the Iraqi Nation Party,
told PolOff December 27 that Adel Alami, IECI's Chief
Operating Officer, told him on December 27, "I have
evidence of fraud and forgery, but I can't expose this
because it would make big trouble for me and change who
gets seats in the new government." NOTE: Allami is known
to make broad, off-the-cuff statements, unsupported by
concrete evidence. END NOTE.


3. (C) Based on preliminary results, Mithal al-Alusi is
currently projected to win one seat, at most in Baghdad,
for the new Council of Representatives. The IECI chose
not to count 45 ballot boxes from Baghdad during the
preliminary results due to fraud allegations. The IECI
audited the votes in these boxes December 27, and IECI
staff will prepare a report. According to Alusi, IECI
staff is "under pressure" from Commissioners Aida Salhey
and Su'ad al-Jubouri to count these ballots in an effort to
keep him from gaining a seat. Mithal said these ballots
would benefit Salih Mutlak's National Dialogue (667) and
the Iraqi National Common Council (784),allegedly a Sunni
group.

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IECI AWAITING AUDIT REPORT BEFORE DECIDING
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4. (C) If found "not fraudulent," and if counted towards
the official results, these votes would total approximately
22,000. NOTE: This is enough to re-distribute one or two
seats in Baghdad, but only if these votes are skewed to one
party. However, this should not occur. Normally, one would
expect the same distribution of votes of the total to be
represented in these boxes. END NOTE.


5. (C) The UN indicated the votes in question would not
affect the results by even one seat. The audits of these
boxes showed some indications of tampering in some of the
boxes, but not all. The IECI Board is awaiting a final
report from the audit team and will decide whether they
will include these boxes or not in the total count.

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COMMENT
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6. (C) In a separate conversation December 27, Secretary
General of the Assyrian Democratic Movement Yonadem Kuna
also mentioned to PolOffs that these 45 ballot boxes would
benefit the Iraqi National Common Council (784). He, too,
was concerned the counting of these ballots might cost al-
Rafidain its seat in Baghdad. On the other hand, the IECI
said the complaint against these ballots implicated Shi'a
leader Abd al-Aziz al Hakim's United Iraqi Alliance.


7. (C) Comment: Finger-pointing and complaints of
elections abuse continue on all sides. The IECI should
show that their auditing process is valid and transparent
to ensure Iraqis - especially the many disheartened Sunni
Arabs who cannot adjust to the fact that they are not the
majority sect in Iraq.
KHALILZAD